Waiting

A lot of life involves waiting. We wait in the check-out line at the grocery store, on the phone in the hopes of reaching a live person, in rush-hour traffic, at the post office and at the doctor’s office. We wait in the morning to start work and then we wait for the work day to end so we can go home. When we first get pregnant, we wait for that little baby to be delivered into our hands for what seems like forever, and then we wait for them to move out of the house for what seems like an eternity. Many of us are still waiting for our ship to come in.

So much waiting.

During this season, we wait for Christmas to arrive. For our children, this waiting is laden with great anticipation of the great gifts that they hope to receive. For many adults, this waiting is full of dread lest the gifts do not live up to the expectation.

When it comes to Christmas, we often forget that there was a day when Christmas did not exist. And I’m not just referring to the holiday celebration, but the event that gave us the reason to celebrate in the first place — the birth of Jesus Christ. For all of human history, there was no Christmas celebration for that baby born in a manger had not yet arrived.

For those of us on this side of history, the event now is taken as fact. Even if you don’t believe Jesus is God in the flesh come to make it possible for man to reconnect with the Father, only a very few have the audacity to disbelieve his existence.

But those on the other side of history, did not have the luxury of choosing whether they believed Jesus as God or a mythic man-figure. And without Christ, there was no easy way to connect with our Father in Heaven. And so they waited. The Scripture says that all creation groaned in eager expectation of the arrival of One who would make a way.

Colossians 1:26-27 says that in Christ, the great mystery of the ages has been revealed to us! And this mystery is not only the person of Jesus Christ, but the possibility of Christ’s life living inside of us and making us into people who know the Father and want to do His will.

For some, this remains a mystery even to this day and they continue to wait for they do not yet know His reality inside of them. But for all those who invite Jesus to change their heart and lead their life, their is a new day that dawns and the waiting is over.

Waiting for Christmas takes on a whole new meaning when we remember that the reasons the angels sang loudly in the sky over Bethlehem is now present among us and Christmas is more than just a holiday, but a reality every day.

The pastors in Kings County would love the opportunity to teach you more about who Jesus is and how He can be revealed in you. Why don’t you invite your family to church this weekend and end the waiting.

Fa-la-la-la Focus

December is here and that means the Christmas season and all that accompanies it. Love or hate the incessant and ever-present Christmas music, the cheery sweaters and the bright decorations, you certainly cannot avoid them. Some of us come kicking and screaming into the season, but come we must. Even the Grinch couldn’t avoid it in the end.

Whether you have more in common with the Grinch or Cindy Lou Who, let me encourage you to keep your focus on those things that matter the most during this season. Retailers will tell you what is important is to show the ones you love (including yourself) that you love them by buying them gifts. The key word here is “buying.” Every type of ad imaginable will tickle and taunt your senses seeking to entice, cajole or bully you into trading your dollars for their devices, your pittance for their paraphernelia and your cash for their crap. Before you know it, you will be right back where you were last year—deep in debt just because you want to make others happy with manufactured miscellaney that they probably didn’t even need in the first place.

And if it is not the mad rush to shop til you drop, then you can easily be drawn into the pressure to do everything and be everywhere. There are so many family parties, gatherings with friends, holiday spectaculars, tree lightings, school plays and seasonal celebrations, that if you try and do them all, you will make yourself and your family sick or miserable (or both). In an attempt to try and do everything and make everyone happy, you will only end up hating what is supposed to be a joy-filled season.

This Christmas, why don’t you do things differently?

First, buy less. So much of what we give on Christmas is out of a sense of obligation we put on ourselves. We give things people don’t really want with money that we don’t have. And even if they really do want it, but we are spending money we don’t have (hint: if you are paying with your credit card, you don’t have the money), then we are just dumb.

Second, plan more. Make a game plan with your family now. Decide which events and activities you want to do together. Make a quality decision to focus on each other. Preserve your energies so you can best enjoy the things you should do together.

Finally, focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas to begin with.  The true gift of Christmas was found not at Sears, Best Buy or Apple, but in a dusty half-forgotten village.  It was there in Bethlehem that the world received it’s greatest gift in the form of Jesus.

The pastors in Kings County would love to encourage your family to see the real reason for the Christmas season.  You may even plan to make a family trip together to church!